Indications that National Industrial Court of Nigeria (NICN) may soon grant relief to Mr Joachim Egerue in his case challenging alleged illegal termination of his appointment by the Federal University Teaching Hospital Owerri, Imo State emerged when the accused persons, institutions and their defense councils failed to put up appearance at the court. The Chief Medical Director of Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri formerly known as Federal Medical Centre Owerri (FMC) Dr. Kinsley Ihedioha Achigbu, the Minister of Health and Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri among others are defendants to the case which is before NICN, Owerri, Imo State.

The defendants to the alleged unlawful termination of appointments of Mr. Joachim Egerue, a former staff of the institution, were absent in court even as they failed to file their defense for substantive hearing despite the directive of Hon. Justice N.C. Ogbonnaya, the Presiding Judge of National Industrial Court, sitting in Owerri.

It would be recalled that Mr Joachim Egerue, a former staff of the institution, had dragged the defendants to court in suit no NICN/OW/32/2025, for unlawful termination of his job based on audit report of the dental unit where he worked. According to him, the audit was carried out without his knowledge or involvement; an exercise his lawyer Dr. Barr. Chris Nwadigo described as ”a witch-hunting special audit report of Dental Store of Dec, 2020″.

At the last hearing, the counsel to the defendants, Barr Franklin Ninis, had argued that Federal University Teaching Hospital, Owerri, one of the defendants, formerly known as Federal Medical Centre, Owerri, before its conversion, has no,”Juristic personality to be sued”, because according to him, it has not been gazetted, asserting also that the NICN has no powers to declare declaratory reliefs.

The Judge who lectured the counsel on the inherent powers of the court, described his argument as “lack of intellectual diligence”, and directed him to file his defence for substantive hearing of the substantive case adjourned till March 28. It was therefore surprising that on the adjourned date, none of the defendants, nor their counsels were present in court.

The complainant Mr Joachim Egerue is praying the court to order his re-instatement to his position with attendant arrears of promotion or in the alternatively order direct the Defendants jointly and severally to pay the sum of N200 million as Special damages to the Claimant being the salaries, allowances, emoluments, benefits etc. which the Claimant should have earned from July, 2021 when his appointment was wrongly terminated to 2035 which would have been his retirement age.

Joachim Egerue is asking the court to order the Defendants jointly and severally to pay his arrears of salaries, allowances, emoluments, benefits etc. from March 2021 until judgment is delivered and thereafter, interest thereon at the banking rate of interest until the judgment sum is fully liquidated.

The other prayers are order directing the Defendants jointly and severally to pay N250 million as General damages and compensation for flagrant and unlawful termination of appointment/employment, an order directing the Defendants jointly and severally to pay N75 million as aggravated, exemplary and punitive damages for flagrant and unlawful termination of the Claimant’s appointment/employment